When the patient is serious, treatment is urgent. In Spain they know this well, which is why the government in Madrid has put pressure on Brussels to receive a sort of "advance". At stake is saving Bankia, the most serious patient in the panorama of Spanish credit institutions, still burdened by toxic securities linked to the real estate market.
According to sources in the Spanish press, Mariano Rajoy's executive could receive a first tranche of the aid package “shortly”. from 100 billion euros made available by the Eurogroup to support the financial system of the Iberian country.
From Brussels the European Commission reiterated "that it has not received any formal request from Spain" to activate the aid, but sources from the Commission itself have clarified that an early intervention for the recapitalization could be decided in the event that "a Spanish bank could not wait for the first disbursement expected in November".
The goal is "to protect not just one institution, but the entire Spanish banking system" which would be "put at risk even in the event of a single bankruptcy", the same sources stressed.
But there is also an aspect concerning the Spanish public debt. According to analysts, Spain needs EU funds for Bankia “as soon as possible, because the uncertainty surrounding the affair will further increase Madrid's costs for financing itself on international markets".
